Thursday 10 June 2010 19.05 EDT
First published on Thursday 10 June 2010 19.05 EDT

Goodness knows enough hyperbole and wishful thinking has been slung at the World Cup over the decades – the footballing league of nations, a month-long celebration of the beautiful game – but one thing the tournament does represent is a smart way to grow an audience. Consider: in the halcyon eighth cup of 1966, there were a mere 16 teams, with only one from all of Africa. In the series of matches that begins today, there are 32 countries, including eight African and three Asian teams. This is not down to sheer prowess: in the Fifa world rankings, South Africa comes a mere 83 (out of 202), and North Korea is 105. Free-marketeers might call this a rigged system, and they have half a point; because what Fifa, that impeccably European institution, is practising here is an intelligent form of market interventionism. The federation has increased both the number of countries participating and their range. To qualify, teams from regions (Oceania, say, or the North and Central Americas) compete against each other, in a form of recruitment that one might call positive discrimination. Only in the last month does the competition become much more open. Cynics (and Fifa rightly attracts its fair share) might point out the political reasons for why federation presidents have done this – but it has been a commercial masterstroke, turning a largely European tournament into a truly global event. Compare that to baseball, which has never broken out of the Americas. Most of all, it makes for much more entertaining football.